RAPAPORT… A court in Vietnam sentenced a Taiwan national to 10 years in prison for smuggling some $1.3 million in diamonds into the country. The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced Chen Hsin Hsiung, 45, on July 31 for illegally importing 15,182 diamonds and for having sold 9,000 stones.
Chen was arrested in September 2004 at the airport upon arrival from Taiwan. During the discovery phase of the hearing, authorities raided his local residence and seized another 1,900 diamonds and 150 pieces of jewelry. The judge in the case ruled that the goods would be awarded to the state.